IDW Publishing and Sideshow Collectibles to Work Together

San Diego, CA, July 12, 2004 – IDW Publishing and Sideshow Collectibles are pleased to announce the first of what will be many high quality collaborative projects.

The two companies are working together to create a line of museum quality limited edition statues based on the cutting-edge art of Ashley Wood and his Popbot creation. Ashley Wood has been a professional illustrator for over 10 years and his work has been published by a wide range of companies, including Dreamworks, Warner Brothers, Random House, Marvel Comics, and Konami. Popbot has been featured in a series of graphic novels from IDW Publishing.

“For several years now, Ash has asked me to have a Popbot statue done. I kept telling him that I agreed that the character would make a great statue but that I would only want to do it if we could make sure the statue would match the quality of his art. I spoke with several companies in that arena and I never felt like it was a good match. And then I met the people at Sideshow and I knew we’d found the right home for Ash’s creation. The quality of their work is incredible and they share our dedication to making everything perfect,” said Ted Adams, IDW Publishing’s Publisher.

“The attention to detail Sideshow gives, from figure to packaging, is a breath of fresh air. I’m blown away every time I see the final product,” Popbot creator Ashley Wood said.

Ash fans will get an opportunity to see the prototype for the Popbot statue at this year’s Comic-Con International: San Diego, at both the IDW Publishing booth and the Sideshow Collectibles booth. The convention will be held at the San Diego Convention Center from July 21 through July 25. The Comic-Con is regarded as the best popular culture show in the country and typically draws an audience of more than 80,000 attendees.

With a long history of collaborative relationships, Sideshow has made it part of their business practice to work with companies they identify as being unique.

“We regularly partner with innovative companies and creative people in the publishing, film and television production arena,” explains Sideshow president, Greg Anzalone. “Our new association with IDW is very exciting to us, as we have quickly developed a creative synergy that will allow Sideshow to expand into publishing projects and IDW to expand into collectible merchandise. In addition, our new ability to co-develop unique intellectual properties is now borderless.”

Tom Gilliland, Sideshow’s creative director, will be heading up the creative efforts to realize Ash’s Popbot in 3D. Gilliland oversees an acclaimed team of sculptors and model builders, and is an enthusiastic fan of Ash’s art.

“Creating 3-D representations of a creator’s artwork can be a challenging process. Collaborating with an artist that possesses both the background and vision of Ashley Wood makes the process extremely streamlined and professional,” explains Gilliland.

Sideshow’s initial Popbot release will be limited to approximately 1,000 hand-numbered pieces. The limited edition statue will be fabricated by hand, cast in a heavy-weight polystone material that will capture the detail of the original sculpture. The overall manufacturing process is completely done by hand; each item will be both hand-cast and hand-painted.

Sheparding the introduction of collectible statues of Ash’s work into the marketplace is IDW Publisher, Ted Adams “When I met Greg and Tom at Sideshow, I knew we had to work together. They approach their business the same way we do at IDW. They’re the best in their business and they only do projects that they love. Ash’s Popbot will only be the first of many projects that our two companies work on together,” said Adams.

The initial Popbot statue will be available for pre-order at www.sideshowcollectibles.com and will be released in early 2005. Stay tuned to both the IDW and Sideshow web sites for updated information regarding other Ashley Wood creations from Sideshow, as well as other collaborative efforts between the two companies.

IDW PUBLISHING is a division of Idea + Design Works, LLC, a revolutionary creative service company with a wide range of clients including The Upper Deck Company, Electronic Arts, Ultima Online, WizKids, Cartoon Network, Sony Online Entertainment, Nickelodeon, and many more. IDW Publishing focuses on a small number of high-quality titles. Among them are CBS’s CSI: Crime Scene Investigation; Steve Niles and Ben Templesmith’s 30 Days of Night and its sequels, Dark Days and Return to Barrow; Ashley Wood’s Lore; CVO: Covert Vampiric Operations; Beau Smith’s Wynonna Earp; and Steve Niles’ Wake The Dead. Columbia Pictures has optioned the movie rights to 30 Days of Night, with Sam Raimi attached to produce. Konami is producing a video game based on CVO: Covert Vampiric Operations. Dimension Films has optioned the movie rights to Wake The Dead and Hyde.

Since its inception in 1994, SIDESHOW COLLECTIBLES has been a specialty manufacturer of licensed and proprietary collectible products that reflect a passion toward creating unique, highly sought after figure collectibles, as well as film prop replicas and fine art collectibles. The Sideshow artisans are renowned sculptors, experienced model makers, painters and costumers, whose collaborative efforts result in intricately detailed likenesses of popular characters, including film and television monsters, villains, heroes and mystical creatures of fantasy, as well as legendary figures from history. Sideshow artisans have regularly distinguished themselves for their ability to achieve a level of authenticity seldom seen in the figure collectible arena.

Sideshow is the premier source for highly collectible figures, statues, busts, framed art, prop replicas and film-study maquettes. Sideshow products are available online at: sideshowcollectibles.com, sideshowfineart.com, as well as through specialty and collectible shops, comic book stores, other specialty retailers and via collectible web sites worldwide.